Day One // The Best Yes
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Check the Third Box /Chapter 1 – Pages 1 to 6
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[divider type=”dotted” color=”gray”]Today’s post comes to us from the host of The Intentional Filling, Bree Blum.
[divider type=”dotted” color=”gray”]Decisions, decisions. It’s what landed you here, reading this post. It’s what kept you from pressing snooze for the umpteenth time this morning, and it’s what binds us to our daily schedules.
Oh, decisions…
When I made the decision to begin blogging publicly, I accepted the unwritten task of inspiring and encouraging women to become the best versions of themselves. It felt great to be able to connect with other women through faith, while helping them to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and guide them to a more positive outlook and life.
But let me tell you something. That decision began to feel like a misdirected step when the weight of having to appear “put together” all of the time started to limit my desire to write and caused me to feel bitter instead of better about the words I was sharing with the world.
I will be the first to admit, I am a perfectionist. I have always felt that things needed to be just so, that order is a preferred means of living, and that allowing areas of weakness to show is unacceptable. These standards were not set by my parents or teachers. These hard to fulfill and often not-necessary guidelines for living were established out of my desire to achieve and to be perceived in a positive light.
My older sister has Cerebral Palsy. It’s a fact, and not something that I ever expect to receive pity for. Growing up, I didn’t see her inability to walk as anything out of the ordinary. After all, there were plenty of things that I couldn’t do, including whistle (something that to this day, I still cannot do). But when I was in fourth grade, the one thing that set my family apart, caused my peers to question my value and my worth.
That is a crushing blow to a young child; to have others begin to view you in a different light due to things that are outside of your control. And so in an instant, my goals changed. I would not allow them to see me in a way that could allow questions to be formed about me, my ability, my value, and my worth.
The plan worked for the most part for years, but when it came to writing for my public platform, I could not keep up the tiring game. It was exhausting trying to live out ‘Plan Bree’ and so I made the decision to follow a better plan, ‘Plan G-O-D’.
“In God’s plan, you’ve got a part to play. If you know it and believe it, you’ll live it…you’ll be a grand display of God’s word lived out.” – Lysa TerKeurst
Making that decision to follow God more fully has been powerful. Sharing my times of weakness and faults have allowed me to better relate with others and reach a group of women that I never would have had an opportunity to connect with, had I continued portraying this false-self. It is as the scripture says, it is through my weakness that I am made strong by allowing Christ’s perfection to enter in (2 Corinthians 12:9 MSG).
That decision, that change, also lead me to a place where I felt strong enough to say one of the Best Yeses I’ve ever said. Last fall, I said YES to hosting book studies from this tiny little platform on the inter webs. From a meager group of eight, faithful participants, we are here today embarking on the plan that God has been working on from day one and that whispered, yes.
It just takes a single decision. And likely it will be one of the most difficult ones you’ve had to make. But remember, it is through Christ that we are made strong, and it is for Him that we can say our Best Yes!
[divider type=”dotted” color=”gray”]What did you think of the introduction to The Best Yes? Leave a comment below to join the discussion and be sure to join the community at the following links:
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